”The first day I landed in Paris, I was 10 years old, and my father told me: “Take the best out of your Lebanese culture and the best out of the French culture.”

It’s not until the end of my teenage years, when I stayed at the French-Lebanese dorms in Paris, that I actually realized how rich this double culture was. I met a lot of people holding the double nationality and navigating between both cultures, and I started getting interested in the history of the relations between France and Lebanon.

One day, someone from the Worldwide Lebanese Union contacted me to represent young French-Lebanese. This is when I realized that there was not secular group which gathers French-Lebanese around culture, the groups that existed were political or religious.

Thing is, I know that young French-Lebanese feel the need to keep a cultural bond with their country of origin. That’s why I founded with my friends the Cultural Club of the French-Lebanese culture. Our goal is to promote the French-Lebanese culture, history and relations through events and travels to Lebanon.”

 

Philippe Bhanna is 25 years old. He co-founded the Club Culturel de la Jeunesse Franco-Libanaise.